First, in five of the top seven UG courses, there were more women than males

NEW DELHI: According to the All India Survey on Higher Education (2021–2022), which was released by the Center on Thursday, higher education in India has made significant strides in the last five years in terms of enrollment, the opening of new institutions, and improved student–teacher ratios. Female participation has increased over male participation for the first time in five of the top seven undergraduate programmes across various disciplines.

According to the 2011 census, the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) rose to a record high of 28.4, meaning that more women than males are now enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs. The GER of females is higher than the GER of men in 26 states. Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Kerala, and Telangana are the six states having GERs of 40 and above. Two UTs, Chandigarh (64.8) and Puducherry (61.5), have GERs of over 60%.
Higher education now enrolls 4.33 crore students overall, up from 3.57 crore in 2016–17—an increase of 18.1%. Enrollment jumped by 4.6% from the previous year and 26.5% from 2014–15, according to the poll, and it reached 3.42 crore. The top six states, including 51.4% of the population in the 18-23 age bracket and 53.3% of all student enrollment, are West Bengal (27.22 lakh), Rajasthan (26.89 lakh), UP (69.73 lakh), Maharashtra (45.78 lakh), Tamil Nadu (33.09 lakh), MP (28 lakh), and MP (28 lakh).
The number of registered female students has climbed to 2.07 crore, a 32% rise from 2014–15 and an 18.7% increase from 2016–17. More female students than male students are enrolled in states like Kerala, Telangana, Haryana, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Meghalaya, and Chhattisgarh. “The share of female enrollment is 55% of the increase in overall enrollment (91 lakh) since 2014-15,” said the study.
During 2014–15, there have been 341 more universities and university-level institutes established. There are 1,168 universities in addition to 45,473 colleges (up 1,677 from 2020–21). Of them, 685 are government-managed (Centre: 240, State: 445), 10 are private deemed (aided), and 473 are private (un-aided). Nonetheless, eight states account for 69.8% of all colleges, with Uttar Pradesh (7,182), Maharashtra (4,685), and Karnataka (4,283) at the top of the list.
Over 3.12 lakh more instructors have been added in the last five years. This has improved the student-teacher ratio (PTR) at the university and college levels, which went from 30 in 2017–18 to 24 in 2021–22.
At the UG level, humanities remain the most popular option with 34.2% of registered students, followed by commerce and BSc. Only over 30% of students in BTech, which is in fourth place, are female.
Ninety percent of enrollment is in 10 UG programs, which include medical sciences, BA, BSc, BCom, BTech, BA (Honors), and BEd. The proportion of female students enrolling is much greater than that of male students in every other subject except engineering and commerce.